In the mid ‘90s I traveled the nation to attend Preparedness Expos. They were 3-day events over a weekend with vendors setting up booths on patriotic, self-sufficiency, disaster and survivalist themes. I noticed a pattern develop among the attendees that by the end of the weekend people were in a higher state of panic over rumors they heard of impending chaos and political, economic doom.
Afterwards a person had to take time to digest what they heard and then differentiate between fact and rumor. Because of the expected panic that came from these events, I decided to write a booklet that would expose this information overload trend and offer a solution. I called the booklet “Understanding America’s Changing Conditions”.
In the booklet I broke down America’s conditions into 4 categories from 1 to 4. And, if a person needs to know what condition they are actually in across the nation, they could refer to these levels of risk or danger and know what they should or should not do in the way of preparation.
The danger was, if Americans heard a rumor of impending doom of some kind, they might make a knee jerk reaction and gather their wife and kids and run for the hills. I felt that this kind of fear and panic needed to be avoided at all times. In fact, I also concluded that a self-imposed fear could end up being the worst enemy Americans could face.
It would also place families in unwarranted primitive living conditions, derail their careers and cause a major economic hardship on the family. In this regard, fear and panic can be destructive and a negative condition on individuals that should be avoided at all costs.
The conditions I outlined started with 1, which was no danger at all in the nation. Condition 2 was a slightly elevated condition that warranted closer observation, but no critical plans or preparation was required. Condition 3 indicated an increased awareness of national or world events, or negative political actions that required a citizen to make alternative plans for survival or possible evacuation.
Condition 4 was the nation in full alert mode where foreign military invasion or political upheavals were initiated - like the confiscation of firearms, economic collapse was imminent, crime was rampant and a constant danger to citizens that required immediate actions. In most cases in that condition, if a family was in an urban area, it required them to evacuate to a safe zone in the country.
These conditions were also valid for specific areas, like a particular urban area or a state, like California. When state and local laws infringe on Constitutional rights, people have the option to stay or leave that area to avoid so-called legal police actions.
When I wrote the booklet, we were in condition 2.5, which was not at all a risk condition that warranted all the fearful reactions some families were taking, that placed them in self-imposed primitive living conditions.
For example, I had a friend in Kansas that was a subscriber to my newsletter, and was thinking of moving out of state and hunkering down in the mountains of the northwest. I told him that the move was fine, to live a more self-sufficient lifestyle, however, the condition we were in did not justify going to a survival mode situation.
He paid attention to what I said and became a realtor in NE Washington state and prospered for over 25 years.
Another example was an event that was supposedly taking place in New Mexico that involved law enforcement preparing to confiscate firearms from the people in the county. A militia group many states away was monitoring the situation and was almost ready to announce a ‘call to arms’.
When I heard this from that group, I called the sheriff of that county to get a clear view on what was going on. And I discovered first hand that there were absolutely no activities going on in this regard and the panic from rumors was 100% unwarranted.
I could give numerous examples where I had to look into rumors, and in every case I found the panic was not justified.
I also discovered that sensationalists like Alex Jones were on a wild tangent to push sensational stories which seemed to grow larger and more dangerous every week.
It seemed that these blow-hard, circus barkers were trying to out-do the sensationalism of the past week - until finally they started reporting total nonsense or gross exaggerations that become dangerous “disinformation’.
For this reason, I avoided Alex Jones’s information like the plague. Finally, he was sued for $1.5 billion for saying flat out untruths involving the deaths of children in a massive tragic shooting incident at a school. Now he is losing his entre sensationalist media kingdom.
Even though he was considered a patriotic spokesman for many years, he has now been allegedly labeled as an out-of-control kook.
The bottom line is fear, panic and sensationalism can have a negative effect on people. It is essential as a human being to remain rational, calm and careful in their conclusions. Otherwise, the fear and panic they hear can cause them undue stress that becomes unhealthy, both mentally and emotionally - and determine their future lifestyle condition.
I have been reporting on risk and dangers for over 30 years, so I may be used to it more than most people. But the fact remains, I still have to evaluate each story I hear and make a determination if it is a real and a current risk or not.
Currently we face 3 major hot spots in the world that could break out into larger wars. But even then, after I look at the risk, I have recently told my friends and relatives that regardless of the risk, “things are stable at this time and there are no signs of an immediate danger”.
Unfortunately, each new story that pops up daily can’t be labeled with a disclaimer or risk assessment. This is where each person must use discernment and logical deductions to know if there is a true risk or not. George Eaton
